Tariff Relief per SAFTA
At a meeting of South Asian Commerce Ministers meeting at Dhaka, India and Pakistan agreed not to charge import duties on 5% of products traded within the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) region.<More>

Democracy,
Politics and Judiciary

Reservation
Politicking in Private Sector
With state election campaigning in full swing, politicians have been ballooning innovative but retrograde ideas on reservations in private sector, premier institutions, and based on religion, which have been routinely opposed and trashed.
<More>

Cong Pussyfoots around Commies
With State Election campaign in full swing, the Congress Party finds itself in the unenviable position of leading a Federal coalition but face their allies as opponents in States who continue to eat into their vote-banks and criticize it with impunity.
<More>

Environment,
Health and Education

Govt to Allow GM Soya Oil Import
Ministry of Environment & Forests said that it intends to allow the import of genetically modified (GM) Soya oil into India if it meets certification criteria to be defined by the Government.<More>

Terrorism,
Defense, Security and Science &
Technology

Closer to Agreement
Over the last several months, India and Pakistan have been silent working on a deal to demilitarize Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield.
<More>

Good
Voting in Naxal Areas in WBPeople
defied threats from naxal
terrorists and stood in long
lines for over two hours,
endured clinical security
screening, and followed
intense Election Commission
restrictions to vote in
large numbers in naxal-infested
areas of West Bengal
(WB).<More>

Neighbors

Worried But No Progress
Visiting Special Envoy Dr. Karan Singh returned from a 2-day tour of Nepal where he met King Gnanendra and major political actors to say, “he is optimistic” that Gnanendra will “make an announcement shortly.”<More>The Nepal Stalemate

World

China
Opposed to India’s UNSC
bidChina has said that it is
opposed to India’s
inclusion in the United
Nations Security Council as
a so-called permanent member
ostensibly because of
India’s association with
Japan through the G-4
initiative.<More>

India
Will not Accept No-Test
OptionIndia
said that it had rejected a
proposal from the US to
amend the Indo-US civilian
nuclear deal that would
disallow further nuclear
testing by India and
terminate the contract if
India would conduct a
nuclear explosion. <More>

The
Bill on National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme seeks to provide
guaranteed employment to one
member of every rural household
for at least 100 days a year for a
minimum wage of Rs.60 per day.
Out of 260 million poor people in
the country, about 200 million
poor people are in rural areas.
People in 45% rural India do not
get work for six months in a year.